Agriculture

TasFarmers has warned that just as farmers grapple with a fuel supply crisis, alarm is now growing over surging farm fertiliser prices that could push food costs higher and deepen economic pressure ... TasFarmers President, Ian Sauer, said the impact would be felt across the core fertilisers farmers rely on to grow crops.

Right now across regional Western Australia something deeply concerning is unfolding. Farmers are being told their diesel deliveries have stopped. Some have been warned supply may not resume for weeks. Others cannot lock in deliveries at all. In some cases, operations have already ground to a halt simply because there is no fuel to run the machinery. This should alarm every Western Australian.

I’m continually amazed how many people can fly to Bali yet couldn’t point to it on a map. Ask them to name the countries that sit north of Indonesia and you’ll usually get a blank look. Yet geography still matters. In fact, it quietly dictates how the global economy works.

Christine Webster. Heatwave conditions at the start of the 2026 Riverland vintage, followed by recent heavy rainfall in some parts of the region, are causing headaches for many wine grape growers. The Oxford Landing Winery’s regional viticulturist Glynn Muster said the long spell of hot weather in late January and February had initially caused heat stress to some vineyards.

Hugh Schuitemaker. Pressure on fuel supplies has seen a Mallee area service station frequently used by Riverlanders run dry, and is adding to anxiety being felt by farmers and growers according to the region’s State MP. Karoonda’s independent service station was as of yesterday out of fuel, with shortages sparked by panic buying due to the war in the Middle East.

The Nationals are today taking another major step toward preserving Australia’s food security with the tabling of proposed laws to ban federal funding of projects that diminish prime agricultural land, or place it under foreign ownership.

TasFarmers has warned “without fuel there is no food”, calling on governments to guarantee diesel supplies for agriculture and freight as global tensions push fuel prices sharply higher. Diesel prices in parts of Tasmania have risen from about $1.87 to more than $2.17 per litre in the past week, creating uncertainty for farmers, contractors and freight operators across the state.

New research has revealed past land clearing is increasing the vulnerability of native Australian forests to the invasive myrtle rust disease — with regrowth forests emerging as hotspots for impact.

The world’s first glue laminated timber made from Australian Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus), processed in Warrnambool, Victoria, has been unveiled at Mount Gambier’s new Forestry Centre of Excellence, marking a major breakthrough for plantation forestry and the communities that depend on it.

“There is fuel, but it is being kept for the city, a short-sighted approach that will have huge flow-on effects throughout regional areas and right back into the city. Planting is about to start across the electorate of Parkes and elsewhere but without diesel, it won’t happen. And how do farmers get their livestock to market?": Jamie Chaffey.

When the final siren sounds at Barossa Park on Saturday, 11 April, the party is just getting started as Tanunda’s main street transforms into the ultimate post-match destination with food, wine and entertainment. A hallmark event on the Festival of Footy calendar, the Barossa Food & Wine Village, returns for Gather Round 2026, reimagined on a bigger scale.

Western Australian grain growers are urged to check their paddocks for signs of mouse activity in the lead up to seeding, with reports of high activity in the northern and southern agricultural regions. Growers north of Geraldton are reporting numbers as high as 40 mouse burrows per 100 square metres. Two or three burrows per 100 square metres would be cause for concern.

A controversial proposal from an anti-farming environmental group risks handing control of private land to government under the guise of conservation. NSW Farmers’ Conservation and Resource Management Committee Chair Bronwyn Petrie said the Wentworth Group of Scientists’ “Blueprint for a Healthy Country and Thriving Regions” to farmers was deeply disingenuous.

Adaptation to climate change is happening at ground level amongst the vines in Australia. One winemaker in the vanguard is Mudgee winemaker David Lowe, who, in 2021, made a major decision in pivotting his certified organic and biodynamic estate away from "delicate French varieties" and towards hardy Mediterranean styles better able to handle a hotter, more volatile future.

"The Victorian Farmers Federation is gutted that Parliament has backed laws allowing farmers’ land to be taken for transmission lines before the environmental assessment is even finished": Brett Hosking, VFF President.

Kids under 18 free as Taralga Show Celebrates 140 Years of Country Fun!

The theme for 2026 is Poultry Feature and we are looking forward to large poultry exhibit.

Beneath the agreeable language embedded in regenerative agriculture — soil health and sustainable ecosystems — sits a more consequential proposition: that modern, input-intensive agriculture has overshot its optimal point and that government policy should now encourage a structural shift toward lower-input systems. That is not a trivial adjustment. It is a claim about the production frontier of Australian agriculture. Claims of that magnitude ... warrant far more rigorous empirical scrutiny than they have so far received.

The Carp Herpes Virus (scientifically known as Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 or KHV) is a biological control agent proposed by the Australian government to combat the invasive common carp. Since its introduction in the 1800s, carp have decimated Australia's freshwater ecosystems, with experts estimating they make up 80 to 90 per cent of the fish biomass in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Australia’s cotton industry ... celebrating its contribution to the milestone set to be reached by Australian agriculture this year, with gross production value to exceed $100 billion – four years ahead of the 2030 target.

Ukrainian agricultural producers have managed to adapt to the changing market environment. In this new reality, farmers have little influence on events. Survival depends on the ability to adapt to circumstances, which in most cases are force majeure. This makes Ukrainian agriculture the most extreme agriculture in the world.